Admiralty Place Renovation Upsets Residents

Following the closure of the frontal shops, residents and the remaining operating shops have been struggling with the resulting inconvenience and displeasure

Barricades have been put up at Admiralty Place Mall due to the renovations. (PHOTO: VALERIE KOK)

L & S Watch House is one of the shops with their business still operating. Mr Lee Choon Siong, who works at L & S Watch House says, “[The renovations] have affected my business. There has been around 60 per cent decrease in the number of customers in my shop.” He also mentioned how most people are unaware that the businesses at the back are still operating and that only the front businesses have closed down. This made people assume that all the shops are closing down.

(ILLUSTRATION: VALERIE KOK)

Not only have the renovations affected shop owners, it has also affected residents as well with the closure of their favourite shops. Every day, residents at Admiralty will head down to the Wet Market at Admiralty Place to get their daily supply of poultries and vegetables. They will also head to the bakery to get their freshly baked bread or grab their meals at the food court and fast food joints in the mall.

However, with the announcement of the closure of Admiralty Place for two years, this has brought major changes to the daily lifestyles of the residents here after 20 years. This is no exception for Rachel Tan and her family.

“The closure has brought about much inconvenience as it’s where my family and I go to buy things such as daily necessities and food every few days,” says Ms Rachel Tan, 18, a resident of Admiralty. “The closure of the food court and fast food restaurants has also limited the food variety available and I have to go out of the way to buy if I want to eat from McDonald’s or KFC when I could have gotten it on the way home.”

Another resident, Ms Anjaly Roy, 20, also expresses how sad she feels as she did not have a place to get food past 10pm or in the middle of the night as the food choices are much more limited at Admiralty now, especially after the 24/7 McDonald's closed down. In addition, she shared her annoyance regarding the closure of the bakery as the other bakery, being the only one around now, has decided to hike up their prices. Also, with Prime Supermarket closing down, which she frequented, NTUC and Giant have become more crowded than usual.

A temporary wet market was built in replacement following the renovations. (PHOTO: VALERIE KOK)

In order to make up for the closure of the shops, an alternative wet market has been built a few blocks away. There are also food and supermarket options at Kampung Admiralty, Woodlands Mart and Admiralty MRT. However, residents still find that there are not enough alternatives. Despite all the inconvenient changes, the residents are still looking forward to the new changes to the mall after the long wait and also hope that the renovations will be completed sooner.